Rebecca K. McDowell practiced consumer bankruptcy law for several years in the Eastern District of Michigan, representing Chapter 7 trustees as well as consumer debtors, before focusing her career on writing about the law and editing legal content. She has authored bankruptcy articles on Nolo.com and other bankruptcy sites in the Nolo Network. She holds a B.A. in English from Albion College and obtained her J.D. from Wayne State University Law School in Detroit.
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Articles By Rebecca McDowell
If you owe money on your car and you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you must decide whether you want to keep your car or surrender it.
If you have a pension and you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you can probably exempt at least some of your pension and protect it from the bankruptcy trustee.
Valuing your car, van, truck, motorcycle or other vehicle is an important part of a bankruptcy case; when you file for bankruptcy, you must include a list of everything you own and how much each item is worth.
If you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you will most likely be able to exempt (protect) some equity in your car, van, truck, motorcycle, or other motor vehicle. If you can exempt enough equity, you'll be able to keep your car.
If you file Chapter 13 bankruptcy and you have debt with a cosigner, your bankruptcy could potentially affect the cosigner.
When you file bankruptcy, each creditor (the person or company to which you owe money) has a claim against your bankruptcy estate. This means that if there's any money in your estate, the bankruptcy trustee will use it to pay the creditors' claims. To get paid, each creditor must file a proof of claim form indicating how much you owe and the type of debt.
Properly valuing your home in both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy is important. In some situations, your home's value will determine whether you can keep it, or whether you can strip junior mortgages off. Here's how to value real estate in bankruptcy.
A judgment lien is a type of security interest that a judgment creditor can obtain against your property. Below you can learn how a creditor gets a judgment lien, what property the lien can affect, and more.
A judgment lien occurs when a creditor sues you, gets a judgment against you, and files a lien against your personal property to satisfy the judgment. You can avoid judgment liens in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy under the right circumstances.
If you intend to file bankruptcy but are also considering refinancing your mortgage, whether you refinance before or after will depend on a number of factors, including: